The Mystery of Death Trap Mine by M. V. Carey

Author:M. V. Carey [Carey, M. V.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780394864242
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

41 | P a g e

Chapter 11

The Hungry Thief

It was mid-afternoon when they arrived back at the Christmas tree ranch. The boys helped Uncle Harry unload the station wagon, putting the flats of tiny trees out near the barn and watering them with a hose. When Uncle Harry went into the house, Jupe looked across at Mrs. Macomber’s place.

“I imagine your neighbour knows more about the Death Trap Mine than almost anyone in town,” said Jupe.

“Mrs. Macomber? She sure does,” said Allie.

“Let’s pay her a call,” Jupe suggested.

The others were more than willing. They went down the drive and across the road and knocked on Mrs. Macomber’s door. The widow called to them to come in. Allie opened the door and they walked directly into the neat little kitchen.

“Busy?” Allie asked Mrs. Macomber.

She smiled, and the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes deepened. “Don’t have all that much to be busy about these days,” she said. “But I sure would appreciate it if one of you boys would step out to my truck and bring in the carton that’s in the back. I’ve got to put away my groceries or the frozen stuff will melt.”

“I’ll do it,” said Pete. Mrs. Macomber’s small pickup truck stood in a dirt driveway beside the house. There was a large cardboard carton jammed with brown paper sacks in the back of the truck. Pete brought it into the kitchen and put it down on a counter.

“Much obliged,” said Mrs. Macomber. “I just can’t seem to do all the things I used to.” She began to take out vegetables, bread, and packages of frozen foods and pile them on the counter.

Suddenly there was a dull booming sound. Mrs. Macomber went to a window. “Wesley Thurgood’s playing miner again,” she announced. “I’ve been kind of expecting that. I saw him drive in half an hour ago with one of his citified visitors.”

“He seems to be actually working the mine,” said Jupiter.

“Sounds that way,” agreed Mrs. Macomber. “He’s setting off explosives in the mine, that’s for sure. I was born here and I know that sound. I lived in this very house when my husband was superintendent here. You can’t mistake dynamite going off in a mine tunnel. But Thurgood isn’t working that mine full-time. He does his blasting only when he’s got company. Showing off for his rich friends from Los Angeles, I suppose.”

“It’s a weird hobby,” said Bob.

“I’ve known of stranger ones.” Mrs. Macomber smiled. “I once heard of a man who bought an old railroad locomotive. He had three hundred yards of track put down in a field behind his house and he ran his locomotive back and forth on that. He wore a conductor’s uniform whenever he played with his big toy, and he had a ball. Lots of money will do that to folks. Maybe Wesley Thurgood’s got some fuzzy notions of the old days when his dad

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.